Weekend Update 3/4/18

[diezmon]

ballast, ballast, and more  ballast,  and some building placement

[randgust]

The now-mothballed (and standby) powerplant at Dunkirk, NY was coal fed by unit trains for decades.   

It had one of those kick-back tracks right off of the end of the rotary coal dumper.   The entire process was just a hoot to watch.  Car got rolled, kicked out of the dumper, rolled downhill past a spring switch and up on the ski-jump ramp, then reversed back downhill into the empties yard without anyone ever touching anything or throwing a switch.   I'm not sure how you'd do it in N but it was quite a piece of work.   I was looking on Google Earth and every trace of it is gone now.

[Mark W]

Spent the weekend in Denver having a blast running trains at the Rocky Mountain Model Train Show.


https://i.imgur.com/ZfzelCT.jpg

This was our largest set up to date, using all 43 sections of the layout.  The layout spans 125 feet by 20 wide, giving us a 4.5 scale mile run from Crawford (formerly known as the mountain) to the Wind Farm (one tower barely visible in front of the guy way back there).

I also experimented more with drone video which I'll edit in the next few days. 


https://i.imgur.com/rEUb71S.jpg

[Jim Starbuck]

Rick and Geoff,
Thank you for the kind words and encouragement.
Jim

[bnsfdash8]

I stripped the paint off a Kato SD70M (sorry SP fans) and bought some new Atlas releases from Model Train Stuff. It was a slow week modeling wise.

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[garethashenden]

I've been working on this for a couple of weeks now. It's starting to look like something. Bit bigger than N scale though. It goes through all the track work when I push it, but I need to test it under power. Before I do that I need to get off my a$$ and wire the layout. Shouldn't take too long...

[Joetrain59]

bnsfdash8,
 What did you use to strip the Kato paint? Read here many times it was a real PITA.
 Thanks,
 Joe D

[rickb773]

It was in the late 1950s and I had just discovered Model Railroader magazines in a new small hobby shop in a local strip mall. There it was in a window, eye height to a pre-teen. I had just gotten into the hobby and I had no idea what the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was but there stood an HO engine bearing their name in a beautiful multi-colored paint scheme. (Keep in mind I lived in PRSL territory with nothing but boxy, “black” Baldwin road switchers.) There was no way I could save up enough to afford it at the time but I always wanted one. Sixty years later I got the chance to acquire a used B&O geep in N scale. Ah Heaven!

Although I am downsizing my N & HO collections, I cannot resist a few beautiful engines that in no way fit my prototype. The WP geep I saw at a Rick Spano open house and fell in love with the look and I was always in love with GN & NP early paint schemes.

Wistful of the days long past!

[Philip H]

Last week I was out running errands and saw this cart in a trash pile. Turns out it’s the same cart they use to store supplies in hair salons, but this one lacks drawers. A couple of sunny hours with the table saw and some scrap plywood I had in the garage and some reasonable drawer facsimiles were created and added. Rolling stock cart anyone?

[GhengisKong]

bnsfdash8,
 What did you use to strip the Kato paint? Read here many times it was a real PITA.
 Thanks,
 Joe D

I've always used 91% isopropyl soaked for about 30 min to an hour with great success on Kato paint.

[tehachapifan]

Last week I was out running errands and saw this cart in a trash pile. Turns out it’s the same cart they use to store supplies in hair salons, but this one lacks drawers. A couple of sunny hours with the table saw and some scrap plywood I had in the garage and some reasonable drawer facsimiles were created and added. Rolling stock cart anyone?

Cool! I've been wanting to find or build something like that for quite some time!

[bnsfdash8]

bnsfdash8,
 What did you use to strip the Kato paint? Read here many times it was a real PITA.
 Thanks,
 Joe D

I use 91% alcohol as well. I usually leave it in for a couple days while I work on other things.

[Philip H]

Cool! I've been wanting to find or build something like that for quite some time!

Thanks Russ.  Trash pile scanning and dumpster diving are definitely Frugal Modelers Traits.  I bet if you find a Super cuts, or Hair Cuttery or some similar chain salon you can get one from them with drawers for free when they change stylists.  I'll keep posting updates as I refine it.

[rickb773]

The local County Historical Society had an open house featuring trains (mostly HO from the Tyler (Mantua Metals) family collection). I was disappointed at the N scale table. It consisted of loose, collapsing sectional track pieces which wouldn’t even permit their old Bachman engine to transverse a quarter of the loop. So I loaned them one of the 2’x4’ Christmas tree displays I made for each of my 4 adult kid’s families. Now all they need is for someone to donate some old equipment that they can run. (The layouts are set up to run 2 trains in opposite direction from a single power pack.)  I also left them a stack of old Model Railroader magazines to give to each child (chronological or behavioral) interested. Hopefully we can generate some new modelers.

[Albert in N]

   Rick, I agree that it is hard not to love a Geep 7 or 9.  Every since the real (prototype) GP7s replaced steam, they had a beauty all their own.  Like most N scalers who like first generation diesels, I own several. When Atllas released their Frisco GP7, I bought one.  Here it is on my temporary rug top HCD layout I had back in December 2011. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]